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An investigation into the writing construct(s) measured in Pearson Test of English Academic

An investigation into the writing construct(s) measured in Pearson Test of English Academic
An investigation into the writing construct(s) measured in Pearson Test of English Academic
Pearson Test of English Academic (PTE Academic) has six item types that assess academic writing either independently or integratively. This research focuses on evaluating the construct validity and effectiveness of the six writing item types. Exploratory Factor Analysis was performed to examine the underlying writing constructs as measured by the six item types. Item scores for different writing skills were subjected to Rasch IRT analysis. The difficulty of the item types was estimated and the effectiveness of each item type was evaluated by calculating the information function of each one. The results identified two writing constructs: an Analytical/Local Writing construct and a Synthetic/Global Writing construct. The study has implications for test developers on the use of multiple item types and their effectiveness, and for test users on how they can improve their writing skills.
global scale of english (GSE), PTE academic, academic writing, integrative skills, item information, item type effectiveness, writing assessment
2211-7245
108-125
Zheng, Ying
abc38a5e-a4ba-460e-92e2-b766d11d2b29
Mohammadi, Shaida
4690611e-8ac0-4754-9f63-431b31d6eb2c
Zheng, Ying
abc38a5e-a4ba-460e-92e2-b766d11d2b29
Mohammadi, Shaida
4690611e-8ac0-4754-9f63-431b31d6eb2c

Zheng, Ying and Mohammadi, Shaida (2013) An investigation into the writing construct(s) measured in Pearson Test of English Academic. Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics, 2 (1), 108-125. (doi:10.1075/dujal.2.1.10zhe).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Pearson Test of English Academic (PTE Academic) has six item types that assess academic writing either independently or integratively. This research focuses on evaluating the construct validity and effectiveness of the six writing item types. Exploratory Factor Analysis was performed to examine the underlying writing constructs as measured by the six item types. Item scores for different writing skills were subjected to Rasch IRT analysis. The difficulty of the item types was estimated and the effectiveness of each item type was evaluated by calculating the information function of each one. The results identified two writing constructs: an Analytical/Local Writing construct and a Synthetic/Global Writing construct. The study has implications for test developers on the use of multiple item types and their effectiveness, and for test users on how they can improve their writing skills.

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Published date: 1 January 2013
Keywords: global scale of english (GSE), PTE academic, academic writing, integrative skills, item information, item type effectiveness, writing assessment
Organisations: Modern Languages

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 357292
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/357292
ISSN: 2211-7245
PURE UUID: 4f49745c-6b67-4fc0-bdcc-4303b0eedfe3
ORCID for Ying Zheng: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-2574-0358

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Date deposited: 24 Sep 2013 08:55
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:48

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Contributors

Author: Ying Zheng ORCID iD
Author: Shaida Mohammadi

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